Tortoise

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

@Sophrus
Approved! You can stick it in the Char tab and start posting whenever you want.

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

@Sophrus
More in the culture section, por favor.

I understand it's difficult to explain the culture of Theta-Leonis as a whole, since it is intended to be a mish-mash of stations each with their own unique style and way of life. However, in that case I recommend that you explain some of the more prevalent cultures and themes.

How does the average citizen in the large, "egalitarian" station live his life? What about someone in a tiny asteroid-sized station? And what does this authoritarian cult in your history actually believe, if they're still around today? Did their existence push the rest of Theta-Leonis into a more anti-religion state of mind?

You get the idea. You don't need to answer those questions specifically, just... elaborate a little. Thankyou!

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

Awesome while Im thinking about it, technology, I haven't read everything but it's all reasonably plausible technology yes? No energy shields, FTL flight or communication (ignoring the gateways) or infinite energy schemes etc

@Sophrus

Instant communication has mostly been allowed, mainly as a plot device. If you have a diplomat in orbit of Earth, they can still send a message back to your home planet. It just makes things smoother. (Plus, we have a hive mind nation that literally couldn't function if they weren't all in contact with each other.)

As for the rest, I wouldn't at all say that it's only plausible techs.

My only real rule is that it can't be literal magic, or out of place in a sci-fi setting. But I'm pretty loose about it. My nation has hardlight. Someone else used sci-fi vampires. Raylah is currently developing cloaking tech, and nobody has (thankfully) ever tried to start a debate about which technologies are 'realistic' enough to be allowed.

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

So I was looking about some, looks like an interesting game if there is room?

If so I'll start work on a proper CS, only question is a space based civ ok? Such as orbital or asteroid habits rather than a planetary based civilization

@Sophrus

Always room! And space based civilizations are a recurring theme here; you'll be the third one.

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

Hey y'all. I'm currently finally starting the Galactic History Book, which will be a brief description of all important events that have so far happened in the IC, making it easier for new players to join without reading the entire RP.

But while starting work on it, I also procrastinated did another thing. You know that feeling when you unlock a video game "achievement" for doing something cool, difficult or unusual? I love that moment. And with all the Stellaris builds and Codex Entries this RP has been doing OOC for its nations, I wanted to try recreating that experience. So behold: everyone's Unlocked Achievements to-date.

Player Achievements

Zetan Consciousness:

With Open Arms: Accepted a refugee into your nation.
I Stand Alone: You were invaded by forces from three different nations, and survived.
Russian Winter: Your homeworld was a nightmare to fight in.
Divine Wind: Struck a blow with suicide pilots.

Earth Cultural Union:

Party Starter: Began the first in-game war.
Liar, Liar, Propagandizer: Launched a smear campaign against another nation.
Lights, Camera, Anime: Exported your media and entertainment to foreign nations, on a Galactic scale.

United Republic of Columbia:

Have Gun, Will Travel: Mercenaries from your nation fought in a foreign war.
Y'all Have Had It Easy: Your tales of alien invasion frightened others into building navies.

Xandalian Republic:

Ah, Yes, the Negotiator: Hosted a war talk as a neutral party.
Shoulder to Cry On: The first to listen to an invaded nation's troubles.
Persuasive: Your people talked their way through a military blockade.

The Grand Republic of Matuvista:

Two Dates to the Prom: Nations competed to be the first to welcome your diplomats.

The Federated People's Republics of Auriga:

Quantum Repair Experts: Fixed a damaged Gateway in your home system.

The Dead Drift:

Rigged to Blow: As soon as your Gateway opened, your star went supernova.
Dynamic Entry: Crash-landed your ship on someone else's planet.

The Undefeated:

Got Your Back: Saved an ally from potential defeat.
Never Forget: Lost men and women to a suicide run.
Is This Banksy?: Your soldiers doubled as graffiti artists.
Cloak and Dagger and Fighter Pilot: You've started to develop technologies for cloaking ships.

Lorne Administration:

Good Tenants: Your people signed a contract generations ago, and still intend to fulfill it.
Old Reliable: Arrived on the scene with a ship centuries old, in style.

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

@Damo021
Could never turn down someone who just read upwards of 100 posts.

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

_{(Addressing: @Sep)}

_{(Starring: Andrei)}

Genghis Khan probably shouldn't drink so much.

It makes his steps unsteady while he crunches through this soft grass underfoot. Sway, sway, stumble, crunch- should soft grass be crunching? Lazy programmers.

The city of Zhongdu is near, but not as near to him as the army he's brought to conquer it. Khan hears their tired sighs, and sees the bags under their eyes- the exhaustion of a war that's become a siege. A long, bloody, useless siege that will lead thousands to be slaughtered. And for what? Why doesn't he ever choose a happy place? Probably the same reason he's drinking a vodka-tequila mix in ancient China.

Is it depression? No, Oliga- the Khan does not get depressed.

He's just tired, is all. As his holographic son, Tulip or Tule or something, rambles about cavalry, and soldiers, and how to break the walls of Zhongdu, Genghis at last finds himself losing the will power to keep up this stupid game. He mumbles "Hologram: Exit." The world around him blinks away, and he ceases to be Genghis at all but becomes Andrei again.

Look at the time- he was playing the holo-suite for seven hours. Some people probably get work done in that time. Even some fellow Oligarchs. But not Andrei. He hasn't done anything like labor since when he was meeting up with all those stuffy diplomats way back, when the Gateways first reopened and he demanded the Zetans explain their existence. (They did not provide an explanation.)

Trying not to think about those days, or much of anything, he slowly drifts off to sleep.

Andrei wakes up on the floor at 4 A.M to a message from the Office of the Savant, which should be alarming enough to make him shout out in surprise. It does not, however, because he has to scroll through sixty or so other messages to get to it. (He has never cleaned out his inbox, and never will.) By the time he reaches the Savant's orders, Andrei is already far too tired again to feel shocked or concerned. His mind registers something about diplomatic duties, and quickly deciding that sounds like a problem for future Andrei (poor sucker), drifts back into unconsciousness.

Future Andrei wakes up on the floor at 1 PM to find three new messages, all from the Office of the Savant again, and begins to panic. Well, he begins to make as decent an imitation of panic as a groggy, hungover, not-depressed man can. It mostly amounts to standing up at an odd angle and trying to force himself out of the room, but before he can get quite there, his stomach forces out its contents in the form of vomit.

How many bottles of vodka-tequila did he drink? The holo-suite hid them as he was playing, placing over them bushes and rocks and crunchy grass, but could not now. Several sad bottles that used to hold poison lay scattered around the floors. They're crystal clear, and Andrei could see right through them if he wanted to, but there's not much to look at- a deactivated holo-suite is only an undecorated white room. It feels alarmingly like being in a hospital.

Within an hour, he's heading off-planet. That was the time it took to respond to the messages with many apologies, get a plan drawn up, and get used to the idea of traveling around with no security. Andrei is a very powerful man, by ECU standards; his mother owned huge shares in the entertainment industry, and since she died, Andrei now owns huge shares in the entertainment industry. (Actually, come to think of it, that Battle of Zhongdu game he played last night might have been financed with his money.)

But all the protectors and security types are being 'redistributed,' so that hypothetical hoard of wealth won't buy him a single guard right now. Half of them are hovering over Zeta-5, and the other half are getting called to the big cities to 'put out fires.' The fires mostly coming in the form of protesting discontents, a sudden new rise in Mixtists zealots, and a lot of opportunists taking advantage of the chaos for some good looting. He's heard it's chaos in Neo London.

It's hopefully calmer at the Meeting Place, which Andrei is approaching now in a little, unarmed shuttle. There's a bunch of newbies on the scene- Lorne Administration?- that the Savant wants contacted. Apparently they showed off some impressive engineering in a chat with the Undefeated, and that's just the kind of tech the ECU needs for the war. When he manages to find their ship amid the general mess of vessels that is the Meeting Place, Andrei shoots of message that he neither planned nor rehearsed:

"Lorne Administration, this is the ECU oligarch and new diplomat Andrei Fedorov, here to, uh... to welcome you back to Earth. And talk. We want to talk. Thanks." Yeah, that's smooth.

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

@Kale19
Well, if the supernova destroyed your colony, you're essentially not in the RP anymore. This is a nation roleplay. You can't play it without a nation.

So, yes, safe to say the colony was not destroyed by it

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

@Kale19
Having some trouble understanding your post. The Dead Drift's star went supernova?

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

@Sep
I was thinking about contacting them, but the ECU is just kinda overloaded with interactions right now, trying to maintain the war, plus the convo with the Aurigans, plus the diplomatic meeting with the Zetans/Xandies, plus the first contact with the Matuvistans, plus the brewing internal conflicts I'm tryna squeeze in- it's a lot. But the Lorne seem cool. So I'll see if I can send over a diplomat whenever I next post

@Raylah
If you do play Stellaris again, (and you haven't played it since before the new update) don't skimp on the envoys. You need them to get anything done diplomatically now. The "Diplomatic Corps" civic is quickly becoming a new favorite.